IT turns out that investments from two South Korean companies worth nearly RM2 billion have been approved for the Samalaju Industrial Park.

Initially there were only reports about Asia Cement Co Ltd, which I posted about last month here.

Now Minister of Industrial Development Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan has confirmed that Asia Cement would invest around RM905.6 million in its metal silicon plant, while Dongwoo Metal Korea would invest an estimated RM966 million to produce integrated metallic silica (charcoal and woodchips).

Asia Cement is currently in negotiations for a power purchase agreement with Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) on the tariffs for the requested 180MW of electricity needed to start operations.

The company would start its earthworks in April on 120 hectares of land approved for its site at Samalaju.

“For the first phase, Asia Cement is scheduled for commercial operation by the fourth quarter of 2013, second phase would commence in the third quarter of 2015 and the third phase in 2017,” said Datuk Amar Awang Tengah.

Initially, and this is understandable, the company would employ its own engineers along with some local engineers to start the company. However, it is expected to gradually train and recruit more local staff once it is fully operational.

In the meantime we need to ensure that we Sarawakians are trained with the skills and knowledge necessary to grad these high income job opportunities.

Anyway it looks like the State Government’s recent trade mission to South Korea to meet some 180 CEOs and captains of industry was a success.

Real transformation for a secure future and not just passing change. Great stuff.

The Borneo Post’s report:

Korean companies invest RM2 billion in Samalaju Industrial Park

KUCHING: Some RM2 billion (US$620 million) worth of investment at Samalaju Industrial Park from two Korean conglomerates have been approved by the state government, revealed Minister of Industrial Development Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan.

He told a press conference here yesterday that the two companies namely Asia Cement Co Ltd (Asia Cement) and Dongwoo Metal Korea would invest an estimated US$300 and US$320 million respectively.

Awang Tengah said Asia Cement would invest in the manufacturing of metal silicon.

“Currently they are in negotiations on the power purchase agreement with Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) on the tariffs for the requested 180MW of electricity for its need to start operations here,” said Awang Tengah after receiving two Korean company delegations at his office at Wisma Sumber Alam here yesterday.

He said the company would start its earthworks on April this year. Some 120 hectares of land had been approved for the site operation in Samalaju.

“For the first phase, Asia Cement is scheduled for commercial operation by the fourth quarter 2013, second phase would commence on third quarter of 2015 and the third phase in 2017,” said Awang Tengah.

He added that at the initial stage, the company would employ its own engineers with some local engineers to start the company but would gradually train and recruit more local staff once it was in full operations.

The second company which would invest an estimated US$320 million also in Samalaju Industrial Park would produce integrated metallic silica (charcoal and woodchips).

Another company which had also keen interest to invest in Samalaju was Eco Frontier which would be involved in renewable energy, green finance and global carbon.

However, as the company would require some three million tonnes of biomass annually especially palm oil wastes, the state government had advised it to make further studies on the proposal.

Awang Tengah said this was necessary so that the company would have enough raw material to feed its mills due to competition for the same raw material from local companies.

“This is the result of our successful trade mission trip to South Korea recently where some 180 CEOs and captains of industries came to participate in our forums,” he said.

Meanwhile, Awang Tengah who is also the Minister of Planning and Environment II revealed that the state would need the power from Murum to offer competitive tariffs to investors as power from Bakun would not be sufficient to propel energy-intensive industries in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) area.

He disclosed that the Murum hydropower (HEP) was expected to produce power by early 2014. Currently, some 70 per cent of the project had been completed. Murum HEP has a capacity of about 944MW.

“We are able to plan properly so as to be able to meet the demand of the market,” he said.

Sarawak has a potential capacity to produce some 20,000MW of power from its HEP by 2030.